Parthenius III of Constantinople
{{Short description|Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 1656 to 1657}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| name = Parthenius III of Constantinople
| image =
| caption =
| church = Church of Constantinople
| archbishop_of = Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
| appointed = 26 July 1656
| term_end = 24 March 1657
| predecessor = Joannicius II of Constantinople
| successor = Gabriel II of Constantinople
| previous_post = Metropolitan of Chios
| birth_name =
| birth_date =
| birth_place = Mytilene, Lesbos
| death_date = 24 March 1657
| death_place = Constantinople
| buried = Kamariotissa Monastery, Chalki
| feast_day = 24 March
| venerated = Eastern Orthodox Church
}}
Parthenius III of Constantinople ({{langx|el|{{lang|grc|Παρθένιος}}}}; died 24 March 1657) was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in 1656–1657. In 1657 he was charged with treason by the Ottoman Sultan and hanged, after refusing to abjure his own Christian faith. He is hence revered as New Hieromartyr Parthenius III and his feast day in the Eastern Orthodox Church is 24 March.Great Synaxaristes {{in lang|el}}, [http://www.synaxarion.gr/gr/sid/2438/sxsaintinfo.aspx Ὁ Ἅγιος Παρθένιος ὁ Ἱερομάρτυρας Πατριάρχης Κωνσταντινουπόλεως], 24 Μαρτίου, ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ"New Hieromartyr Parthenius, Patriarch of Constantinople", in: Leonidas J. Papadopulos, Georgia Lizardos, et al. (Transl.), New Martyrs of the Turkish Yoke, Seattle, St. Nectarios Press, 1985, p. 122 ff.
Life
Parthenius was born in the Island of Lesbos, and in 1639 he was elected metropolitan of Chios.{{r|Vaporis}} On 26 July 1656 he became Ecumenical Patriarch, succeeding Joannicius II of Constantinople.{{r|Kiminas}}
Parthenius III, who sided with the Tsardom of Russia in the clashes for the control of the Church in Ukraine, in 1656 denounced the 1643 Confession of Faith of the previous Metropolitan of Kyiv Petro Mohyla, which he deemed to be too close to the Catholic doctrine.{{r|Runciman}} The Confession of Faith of Petro Mohyla had been however already approved by all the Greek-speaking Patriarchs in 1643, and it was again approved in 1662 by Patriarch Nectarius of Jerusalem and by the Synod of Jerusalem (1672). Parthenius III also held a burial for the remains, recovered on a shore, of his predecessor Cyril I of Constantinople, who was killed in 1638 on a ship in the Sea of Marmara and his corpse thrown in the waters.
In order to raise funds, Parthenius III sent letters to a Greek bishop in the Tsardom of Russia, at the time a political enemy of the Ottoman Empire. His correspondence was intercepted and delivered to the Grand vizier Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, who decided that Parthenius III should stand for trial charged of treason.{{r|Vaporis}} Though the accusations were proven false, Sultan Mehmed IV ordered his hanging in order to "set an example for those who may try that in future".{{r|Kiminas}} The only option he was given to be freed was to convert to Islam, but Parthenius III refused.{{r|Vaporis}}
Thus on 24 March 1657 a long procession walked with Parthenius III from his prison to a place in Constantinople named "Gate of the Hook" (Parmak Kapi) where he was hanged. He stayed hanged for three days and then was thrown into the sea. His body was found by Christians and was buried in the Kamariotissa Monastery on the island of Chalki.{{r|EP}}
Notes and references
{{Reflist|refs=
{{Cite book |title=The Ecumenical Patriarchate |last=Kiminas |first=Demetrius |date=2009 |publisher=Wildside Press |isbn=978-1-4344-5876-6 |pages=40, 47}}
{{Cite book |last=Vaporis |first=Nomikos Michael |title=Witnesses for Christ - Orthodox Christian neomartyrs of the Ottoman period |publisher=Saint Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary |location=Crestwood |date=2000 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wTdz-34tZ4sC&pg=PA114 |pages=114–115 |isbn=0-88141-196-5}}
{{Cite book |last=Runciman |first=Steven |title=The Great Church in captivity |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=1985 |isbn=978-0-521-31310-0 |page=344 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/greatchurchincap00sirs/page/344}}
}}
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{{Succession box
| before = Joannicius II (4)
| title = Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
| years = 1656 – 1657
| after = Gabriel II
}}
{{S-end}}
{{Patriarchs of Constantinople}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parthenius 03 Of Constantinople, Patriarch}}
Category:17th-century Greek clergy
Category:17th-century Eastern Orthodox martyrs
Category:17th-century ecumenical patriarchs of Constantinople
Category:Christian saints killed by Muslims
Category:Christians executed for refusing to convert to Islam
Category:People executed by the Ottoman Empire by hanging
Category:Executed Greek people